Daily Image - Aug 2011 Archive

01 Aug 11. As most of you will recall, early last June I had the opportunity to assist in the delivery of an Angus calf, my first, and one that had a bit of adventure associated with it. I had an opportunity late last week to get up close to mom and daughter (11-3) and thought you might appreciate an update on the status of the young lady, so here is a shot of her at 8 weeks. I've had a couple of occasions while doing some haying to watch her romping around with the other calves and must admit that they can put on quite a show even if it is only for a few minutes. Needless to say mom and daughter are doing fine which seems to be becoming a common phrase lately. ISO 800; 1/125 sec @ f / 11

03 Aug 11. The advent of the HDR approach to photography has opened some new doors to image creation that were basically available only to painters and sketchers in previous generations. The use of the technique can range from very weird looking images (grunge) or to merely provide content where it wasn't available prior, such as the lavender field building I shared a few days back. All of the aspects of the approach have their appropriate use, and it is up to the photographer how best to employ the technique. In this image I have strayed a bit into the grunge side to take a rather mundane scene/subject and give it some life. No, it doesn't look exactly like this rendering in the original, but the original is nowhere near as interesting as is this creation, at least in my eyes. You could actually go see it for yourself as it sits on my cousin's farm, and I'm rather certain he wouldn't mind you taking a gander, but you might even walk right past it and not see it in as much as I did for a couple of years before recognizing its potential. ISO 200; 1/640 sec (middle of 5) @ f / 6.3

02 Aug 11. Walking around the facility at the Hiram Chittenden Locks last week I was able to capture the departing smolt for the first time. I would have expected to have seen them a bit later in the year but I'm not sure why as I've never before noticed it. In reality, I didn't notice it when I was taking the photo, but after getting it in the computer it became obvious that there was a multitude of dark specks distributed through the out flowing water, and it was then that it dawned on me as to what I had captured. To make the whole thing just a more interesting, as we were driving around Sunday we passed by several trees whose leaves were turning red. Seems WAY too early for that to be happening, but it is, and I'm thinking I could go for a very long extended Fall to make up for our missed Spring and Summer. ISO 200; 1/1250 sec @ f / 9.

04 Aug 11. While mowing around a large group of trees a couple weeks back, I kept noticing a few bee-like insects buzzing around a grouping of wild flowers (some might consider them weeds) at their base. As the riding mower was being totally ignored by them, I figured I could get rather close and grab a shot or two. In fact, I could get with 8 inches of them before they took notice and moved to a different flower. When I originally saw them my assumption was that they were bees, but having a closer look courtesy of the computer, I now believe that they are more likely flies that like pollen and which mimic the bee look for protection. The things that most make me think it is not a bee are the wings and the eyes. Whatever they are, bees or flies, I found their coloring to be very attractive and highly complementary to the flowers on which I found them. ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f / 9.

05 Aug 11. Awakening Thursday to the sound of fog horns and a view of very low lying clouds, I took my time driving to the house electing to err on the side of safety vice expediency. I was amply rewarded for by the time I had crested the hill from Hansville beach the fog had thinned just enough to render the countryside into a dream-like state that simply called out for recording, so record it I did. It took a moment to register, so I had to turn around and go back to get the best possible composition, and this is what caused me to pause and smell the newly cut grass (hay). This image is suggestive of the oft repeated statement that all atmospheric conditions are suitable for good photography. To which I'll add a comment of my own; never better then in fog! ISO 200; 1/250 sec @ f / 9.

08 Aug 11. The shot for today was taken for a different reason than you will likely surmise. We had finished a long evening of baling, collecting, and stacking almost 300 bales of hay high in the barn (with apologies to Toby Keith) when the sun finally agreed to set for the day. I had been watching the scene develop for the better part of 30 minutes waiting for the perfect timing to get the image. Shots taken both earlier and later than this one ( by minutes) did not provide the result I was looking to capture, but this one did it perfectly. Had I been a little less tired, and therefore more ambitious, I would likely have taken material on both sides of what you are seeing to create more of a panorama, but even without the pano effect, I feel this image conveys the idea well. With this particular combo of foreground and background, you might even come up with some application for the image. ISO 200; 1/400 sec @ f / 9.

09 Aug. If I were to pick a single color with respect to flowers, I believe it would have to be the color purple. It would seem to my eye that flowers of this hue are the most interesting from a design standpoint of all the flowers. While I realize that such an observation is probably not supportable, I nonetheless find myself gravitating to purplish flowers more than any other color. I'm not certain I'm aware of it at the time of capture, but when looking at them on the screen it has become very obvious that the purple varieties have some of the most interesting designs, in addition to a very pleasing color. Today's selection might, with a little imagination, remind you of fireworks, the more expensive kind that consist of more than just a single color. Although the elegance of this blossom is in its simplicity, the supporting stalk and leaves provide great and pleasing contrast, not to mention a bit of repetition of theme in the spikes protruding from the sides of the leaves. All that is missing from this shot is a colorful pollinating insect. ISO 200; 1/640 sec @ f / 8. Hope you enjoy, dave

10 Aug 11. The golden hour of light that we enjoy twice a day offers an opportunity to visualize the world around us in a manner unlike any other. This scene will undoubtedly evoke some reaction from you that would not have been elicited had I shot it during some other time of the day, such as noontime. To be sure, while I've studied plenty about working the light during these two times of the day, such study has not done anything to enhance my understanding of what is physiologically/psychologically occurring that makes this kind of light have the effect it does. Of course, such understanding might just degrade, rather than enhance, the experience, much like that when you first learned about Mr Clause. So I intend to continue both working with and visually enjoying that special light without trying to fully understand how it accomplishes what it does. ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f / 10.

11 Aug 11. It is coming around to the time of year that the wild flowers at Mt Rainier should start pushing through the snow and making a presence. Last year the third week in August had them at their prime, as this image will attest, at least for Lupine. This year's weather has been very different, with one of the largest and lingering snow packs in several decades. As such, I'm beginning to wonder when we will be able to get up there to photograph the flowers. Jan leaves in a couple of weeks to go visit new grand daughter Svea for a 3 week stay; since that stay coincides with wild flower season on the Mountains, my plan is to exploit that time to maximize the opportunities, should they occur this year at all. If not, we'll just have to use some more of last year's collection, like this one. ISO 400; 1/400 sec @ f / 20.

12 Aug 11. A creative image for today that originated in a neighbor's yard. An artichoke plant adorns one corner of a neighbor's landscape, and in addition to its lovely flowers there are typically a large number of bees buzzing around it. I've had a lot of fun trying to get the insects coming in to land on the plant, and on occasion I've succeeded in getting a bee in flight, but never quite sharp enough to consider sharing. The original of this image stands pretty well on its own, but after playing with it a bit I decided that I like the manipulated version better than the original. This a bit abstract but I think you may like it. ISO 400; 1/320 sec @ f / 16. Hope you enjoy, dave

15 Aug 11. After having selected the image for today and while debating with myself my comment concerning it, I came to the conclusion that the image would be better served if I were to follow some of my most common advice to others and crop it some more. As it was it had been substantially cropped from the original, but time can often provide an improved perspective and, after having looked at it off and on for several months, it occurred to me that it was in need of further adjustment, and so it got it. Now there should be nothing distracting your eye at any point in the image. The shot was taken in the early morning hours during one of the Mountaineers Basic Class sessions, and as there was insufficient light to capture everything my eye was recording, and I didn't want to make ah HDR image of it to adjust for that factor, I elected to go with a silhouette of the scene forcing all the details to black and well as (hopefully) forcing your mind to put the details back into the black. I left the background as it was to provide some idea as to what we are seeing, and most, if not all of you, will recognize the setting as being that of Fisherman's Terminal, but what has been allowed to go black will be up to you to reconstruct. This type of image I believe can be both quite challenging as well as interesting, and I find that I am a bit partial to works of other photographers who employ the technique. IS0 200; 1/80 sec @ f / 10.

16 Aug 11 Something fun for today. I have never been what you might call a sports photographer of any kind, nor have I ever had an interest in being such. And as is blatantly obvious, I'm not a people photographer. I might lay some claim to being an animal photographer, at least in the realm of nature photography, but that would be the extent of it, until recently. Our pooch Maggie is a critter that simply LOVES to run, and to see her running at full speed is simply a delight that I have trouble conveying. In addition to liking to run, with her Dumbo ears trailing behind her, she has found an equal delight in playing with her best friend Mini. By now you are all acquainted with Mini Cooper, our Eglon neighbor's Leonberger, but what I haven't shared with you is the fun they have playing together. Mini, at roughly 125 lbs, vs Maggie, at approximately 45 lbs, is a show to delight the souls of everyone around. Mini, being 7 years old, tends to lumber into Maggie at almost 2, while Maggie simply tries her best to engage her in rough and tumble play. When Mini gets tired, she simply lies down whereupon Maggie rams her at full speed to get her going again. Instead, Mini simply rolls over on her back, like dead dog, and fends her off with all four feet, each of which can easily fully cover Maggie's face. This can go on for several minutes before Mini stands up and they start it all over again. Eventually both girls tire out and Mini finds respite in the rear of the SUV and Maggie retires to the back seat. It is a show worth an admission fee but I get to watch it on a regular basis, whenever the girls are together, for free. ISO 500; 1/125 sec @ f / 5.6.

17 Aug 11. While flying in unfamiliar areas in Antarctica, one had to be constantly aware of the potential of running into a snow bank, for the lighting was often of a nature where it was nearly impossible to discern whether one was looking at at wall of snow or a field of snow. Making an error in recognizing the difference could ruin the day for an entire crew! Illusions of that nature are just one of many encountered in flight. While we think of such being common in that arena, we are, on occasion, prone to not recognize that they can happen in other endeavors, such as driving and sailing. A few days ago I was looking to the west across Puget Sound and found myself staring at a couple of unusual blue-gray clouds. What really caught my eye was a silhouette at the base of one of them. Thinking I was looking at something really odd, I decided to take a couple shots to share. It was only after working to get the composition I wanted that I realized what it was that I was observing. Take a good close look at the image to see if you can figure out what it was that caught my eye; I have not altered it in any way so you are seeing exactly what I was seeing. ISO 200; 1/800 sec @ f /11.

18 Aug 11. Most of us shoot sunsets and sunrises for the drama they provide, especially in the arena of color. There are several ways to get the color, one of which is to shoot when there is a lot of particulate matter in the sky, such as that provided during a forest fire, in smoggy weather, or, when the combination of clouds and weather combine to provide for the vivid display. However, when the scene isn't quite what you want, you can enhance it a bit more to your liking by simply underexposing by a small degree. As an example of the latter approach, today's image was under exposed by 2/3 stop to provide just enough added drama to make the image interesting. If desired, you can add more drama to it by simply employing your graphics editor of choice to under expose it (decrease the brightness) some more. ISO 800; 1/50 sec @ f / 7.1.

19 Aug 11. Today's submission is a fully "adjusted" image that was created via a plugin for photoshop. It is called buzsim and it is part of the Simply plugin from Topaz. According to the company, it is the most popular of all their filters. This is my first attempt with employing it, and I think I really like what it does. This view of a farm I've shared before was taken from a house directly behind and above it, so the perspective is very different from what I've shared prior. The filter gives it an almost paint-by-number appearance that reminds me of many very poorly executed "canvases" of my youth. Not visible at the right hand edge of the photo is an area that is frequently visited by the local Black Bears. This morning, as I arrived at the property, I had the pleasure for the first time, of being visited by our resident Black Bear who made a fleeting appearance accompanied by her cub. It was truly a wonderful sight to see. With a little luck, I hope to get a few images of her in the ner future.ISO 200; 1/800 sec @ f / 7.1

22 Aug 11. While talking to a couple of friends today I heard comments about how sunny and hot our weather has been for the past couple of days - YEAH!!!!! Finally something akin to summer has arrived; how long it will stay I have no idea, but for the past couple of weeks I've had the feeling that we were already entering into the fall season, so a wee bit of summer is appreciated. Nonetheless, the comments about the warm weather made me think back to some of the earlier "summer" rains and the accumulation of water drops on some of the local flora. So I thought a selection from some of those shots might be appropriate for this brief spell of summer weather and this one is of what I think is a variety of dandelion, since I believe I saw yellow headed stalks a few days earlier, but I wouldn't go to the bank on it. Whatever it is, it did a very nice job of collecting the rain drops. Fortunately, I was able to sit on the deck and shoot from a relatively dry location as the rain poured down all around the house. ISO 200; 1/160 sec @ f / 5.6.

23 Aug 11. A goal prior to departing the long term stay across the Sound and the house wiring was to get a couple usable images of the neon sign hanging in a window in the Hansville grocery. Thursday was my last opportunity, the weather was perfect, and I decided it was a now or never type (not in reality - the store isn't going away) situation and so I left some good company and conversation and went outside to shoot. The moment I exited to the outside I was almost awestruck by a 3/4 harvest moon rising above the water's surface and lighting the Sound with an orange stripe. I hurried to my "room" to get the camera and set it up for a long exposure series of shots. By the time I had everything fully set up the moon was a considerable way up the horizon, not nearly so big and a fair amount brighter. But not all that bright that the harvest orange color was lost, but now bright enough that two exposures were necessary to capture the scene. As I was looking at the moon I was quite surprised to see how much it looked like it was just pasted in front of the clouds, and you will see such in the image. Not sure what has caused this "look", but it helped to make it a very impressive sight. ISO 200; 4 sec @ f /10 for the city lights and 1/8 sec @ f /10 for the moon. Just a 6 stop range but enough that no single shot worked; may have to try this with an HDR approach next time I have this small a range.

24 Aug 11. I mentioned yesterday that my intent was to photograph a particular sign when I noticed the harvest moon and got diverted for a while from my main intent. Well, here is the sign that was my particular intent albeit altered a "wee" bit. The sign itself is reasonably interesting hanging as it does in the store front window, but not nearly so much as it is with a little help. I played with the original image for quite a while trying out different approaches playing with shape, hue, and intensity. In the end I settled for two different results and, after looking at them for a couple of days, decided I like this one best, but just by a little. I tried to create the effect using HDR techniques but was not able to achieve the look I wanted, so I tried a couple different filters and settled on, to which none of you should be surprised, my favorite filter, Fractalius. The one BIG problem with this filter is the thousands of possible combinations available which means that choosing the "one" correct effect for any single image is rather time consuming. Still, I feel the time spent is well rewarded. For those of you who like the manipulated images, this should be a winner; for those of you who don't, this might be a mixed bag as it is a bright object of limited colors to begin with, being a neon sign. Playing with such an object in some ways does not change it all that much, although changing it was my goal. ISO 200; 1/6 sec on a tripod @ f /10.

25 Aug 11. A beautiful autumnal day was the best description I can give for Wednesday, starting with a crisp morning giving way to a gloriously sunny and lazy afternoon followed by an evening of cooler weather. Driving down the access road to the property one cannot but be aware of the number of leaves falling from the trees, nor the fact that many are now beginning to turn color, some quite the way along while others are just beginning to show a blush of what lies ahead. The presence of the sun all day made be think of things of that color, which brought to mind some images made last July of California Poppies in our front yard area. On one particular morning they were brandishing a fair amount of moisture, and something like that I just can't, and couldn't, pass by, so I took a couple dozen shots and found that more than one was worth keeping. This obviously would be among the keepers. It does appear as though the weight of the dew was sufficient to request a bit of engineering help, and you can see the suspension lines kindly provided by a local civil engineering expert as a result of said request. Seems like they were just the ticket and were functioning as designed to keep the blossom properly positioned. ISO 200; 1/500 sec @ f /10.

26 Aug 11. Another fantastic fall day was experienced on Thursday, along with a cloudless blue sky and a sunset that turned Mt Rainier into a lush peachy blush and concluded the evening with Ol' Sol looking like a golden-orange orb as he made his departure for the day. A lovely sight if ever there was one. The color of that sun reminded me of a California Poppy more than anything else, so I've elected to go with another poppy shot. This was one of the series I described yesterday, but taken a bit later in the morning which gives it a more orange color as well as being substantially brighter. The morning moisture still remained, not yet having had time to evaporate, so I used a very small aperture in an attempt to get as many of the dew drops in focus as possible. A small subject with lots of potential, with it being walking distance from my home, it serves to emphasize that you don't have to go far to find good material. ISO 200; 1/250 sec @ f /16.

29 Aug 11. I shared this image about 6 years ago, when most of you were not part of the distribution. A chance meeting with a local long time resident of Kingston on Saturday brought the photo to mind. It was taken while on a bird shoot hosted by the MD Dept of Game. All the birds were injury recovered raptors but not capable of survival on their own, so they are kept by the MD Game Dept for display and education about raptors. This one had been shot and had wing damage and was no longer capable of flight. This was true of several others. The individual with whom I was talking on Saturday mentioned the stupidity of some of the current EPA rues concerning certain birds, siting among other things an attempt to shut down the local milling operation for 5 months at a time in close by Port Gamble, WA because a pair of Bald Eagles had decided to build a nest atop a working crane. The mill won the challenge. He was told he couldn't use about a third of his own property when a neighbor saw a pair of eagles starting to build a nest in one of his trees. He said he discouraged them and they moved on. Just north of Bellingham there is a very large timber land holding the owners of which got wind of a new upcoming law a couple years back that said any eagle would require a minimum of 5 Acres of surrounding land to be permanently vacated. They found 20 pairs of eagles on the land; none of which are here today. It is stupid rulings such as these that cause these magnificent birds to be exterminated. Anyone who has been around these huge birds knows that they don't care about their surrounds; if they want to build a nest somewhere they will do it irrespective of who or what is nearby. They don't need seclusion or protection! Somehow we need to get a lot smarter so we can successfully co-exist with our fellow creatures and recognize that we can share the wonderful world without the repeated stupid behavior on our part. ISO 200; 1/1000 sec @ f / 5.6 80-400 VR.

30 Aug 11. Tuesday was slated for my trip to Mt Rainier to shoot alpine flowers, high lakes, and mountains. A combination of bad guesses by the weather guessers and inspection schedules by the state is preventing same, but I do believe a flower photo should still be in the offing. Shooting a lot of macro stuff as I do, and listening to the comments I get about it, I am more than just a little inclined to think that the majority of adults, and all modern kids included, simply fail to take the time to look closely at these magnificent creations and note all the intricate detail. For those of you who do not know me well, I do not believe for even a fraction of a second that it all came about by chance! The image for today is a close up of an Icelandic Poppy, one of my favorite flowers. Take a bit of time and study it carefully; I'll wager you will see more than you've ever imagined prior when just looking at the flower in its entirety. Think about what it is designed to accomplish, and then how that has been engineered into what you are seeing. A great book on this general subject, which I've mentioned before, and which would be a required text in any class in Biology or Mathematics I would endeavor to teach, and which I highly recommend to any of you who are either home schooling your children or thinking of so doing, is titled A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe: The Mathematical Archetypes of Nature, Art, and Science by Michael S. Schneider. In fact, I HIGHLY recommend it to every one of you on this list!! It is, unfortunately, out of print, but there are still lots of copies available for as little as $6, and you'll never spend $6 better. It will open your eyes to the engineering designs found throughout nature and copied knowingly or otherwise by mankind. Today's submission would be touched upon in more than one chapter. ISO 200; 1/400 sec @ f /16.

31 Aug 11. If there is one animal I truly don't like, it would be house cats. For many reasons, not the least of which is the destruction they are wreaking on song birds, but then, since they are by nature hunters, I guess my feelings in this one case should be directed to those who irresponsibly let them outside. And of course, since I really don't like them, they all go out of their way to rub against my leg, or jump in my lap, or worse. All except for Tom. Tom is one of a pair of brother sister cats who live with Mini, although from Mini's perspective, they don't exist. During the first 7 weeks I was house sitting Tom either gave me a wide berth or would come up and ask for attention, and then HISS at me and try to swipe me with his claws if I provided same. Nice cat. About three days prior to the end of my "visit", Tom suddenly became this totally affectionate little pussy who wanted nothing more than to jump in my lap, rub against me, and /or put his butt in my face. A truly delightful experience. Tom liked to bring "presents" into the garage and leave them for me, things he had either killed or maimed and then left to die, including, on one occasion, a large rodent like animal that had crawled into a shoe to expire. I only found it after the garage aroma led me there. A real treat! During this past week I've found a couple of maimed and dead small rodents in our garage at the property, and I'm wondering if Tom is providing us with an early welcome aboard package. I guess time will tell. Meanwhile I fond two very small, but real cute, mice in the basement Tuesday to which Jan's first comment is we need a cat. WRONG. So now I have a puzzle to solve that I think needs rapid attention. How did they get in, and why were both of them near death at the time I found them, one in the tub and the other in the middle of the floor. And where was Tom? ISO 200; 1/250 sec @ f / 9.